


Can't Help Falling in Love

by RegallyWickedThirteen



Category: La casa de papel | Money Heist (TV)
Genre: Angst, F/M, Family Feels, baby feels
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-29
Updated: 2019-08-29
Packaged: 2020-09-29 17:44:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,885
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20439983
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RegallyWickedThirteen/pseuds/RegallyWickedThirteen
Summary: A serquel family, baby fic because I have a lot of feelings and am not ready for all the pain in part 4.





	Can't Help Falling in Love

**Author's Note:**

> Once again a big thank you to the la casa de pain group chat who make sure I actually write and post these and also to everyone who left comments and kudos on my last fic- it really makes it worth it. 
> 
> This took a slightly different direction and is a bit shorter than I planned but it didn't feel right adding any more.

There are still some days where he wakes in the middle of the night, drenched in a cold sweat. He hears the gunshot. He hears her whimper, her drop to the floor. He hears her die. It’s been a year since his world stopped turning. A year since he ran and ran until he couldn’t anymore. A year since he had to go back to Thailand and tell her mother and daughter that she’d been caught. 

What he never expected was the kindness. He lost his father at a young age, that’s how he got into his mess. He knows what that does to a child. He was that child. He expects screams. He expected Paula to hate him. He expected Paula and Marivi to go back to Spain, to throw him under the bus. He wouldn’t blame them. What he didn’t expect was for them to hug him as he collapsed on the beach, holding him up, reassuring him. 

  
  


It’s Paula that comes to him on Raquel’s birthday. They’re both quiet, there are moments where

She should be here, teasing him, throwing back her head with laughter. She’s not and it’s painful but they sit there and remember all the good times. Paula shares some stories of her mother's past birthdays. How she tries not to bring attention to them. Next year her birthday will be special. It’s something to work towards, even if its false hope.

It was Marivi that convinced him to not give up, that was so sure that Raquel was still alive. When he finally asked why she replied with a smile, A mother always knows. He doesn’t believe her, not really, but he has still not accepted that she’s gon 

It’s been 6 months since he’d got her back. 6 months until he felt his heart beat again. 

It’s been 3 months since they got married, a small but perfect affair, on a beach, the sun setting behind them. Their family with city names gathered not for a heist, not for a funeral, but for a celebration of love. Paula is the bridesmaid and insisted on drawing something for everyone as the favour. She’s also the one that assures her mum that she looks gorgeous and Sergio is going to be speechless when he sees her. 

She’s the one that asks Sergio if he will be her Dad. It’s the best wedding present he could have ever wished for. It also makes a yearning inside of him for another child even stronger. 

Paula is also the one that films their first dance (the quality is awful- they’re still restricted to basic technology- they won’t be caught again.)

They bicker about the song choice for a while before Paula roots around in Sergio’s record collection and comes across the King Himself.

Can’t help falling in Love drifts across the small island, and makes the whole scene even more magical. 

They share a smile, and in that moment all else is forgotten. 

They take each others hands and begin a slow waltz, swaying together, in time with the breeze. The world for once in perfect harmony. 

She looks up at him, and she can’t believe she’s here, marrying him, that after everything they’ve got here. One thing would make it even more perfect. Sing for me. 

In that moment he couldn’t have denied her anything, but that doesn’t mean he’s not embarrassed, still he swirls her around, before bringing her body against is as he sings

_ Wise men say _

_ Only fools rush in _

_ But I can’t help falling in love with you.  _

_ Like a river flows  _

_ Surely to the sea _

_ Darling so it goes _

_ Some things are meant to be  _

The whole night is perfect and in that moment they feel invincible. 

They’ve settled into a rhythm now and sometimes it feels like their life is almost normal. They wake up in the morning, tangled in each others arms. Sergio will eventually get up and bring her breakfast platter in bed, she leans up to kiss him and sometimes breakfast is long forgotten in favour of the taste of each other. 

Other times they are reminded just how not normal they are. How fucked up their life really is. They’ve both nearly died and despite their promises, despite how many times they reassure each other that they’ll be here forever and always, it's not always enough. Death is the one thing that is certain. 

The fear and insecurities come up most when they discuss their future. Their family. 

Sergio never thought he would want children, but since spending time with Paula and being with Raquel that has changed. 

Raquel wants a child with Sergio, that’s not a question. She’s also aware that she’s 42. Getting pregnant at this age comes with more risks. They’re also living in hiding, having a baby will 

require some kind of medical attention and going to a hospital brings its own risks.

She wants a child with him, no more so than when she sees him play with cincinnati, making goofy faces and reading him classics. 

She’s just scared. 

Scared of losing what they have. 

He understands her concerns. He does and he will never pressure her. He just sees the longing in her eyes, her smile when she’s helping Stockholm with Cincinnati and Nairobi with her son. He hears the joy as she shares story of Paula’s childhood. It’s so happy. So carefree. So different to his. 

A particular heated argument brings up his ego, his need to fix everything. “Us having a child isn’t a way to try and fix your childhood” 

“And I’m not your ex husband that beat you” 

It’s a low blow on both sides and they both know it. 

That night is the first night since their reunion that they don’t sleep together. They don’t even sleep in the same house. They sleep at opposite other ends of the island. 

The next morning they are both shattered, their eyes bleary, tear stained, ashamed. 

“I’m scared” 

They both are, more so than perhaps than either realised. Bringing a child into a world that is breaking, burning isn’t fair, but the truth is as perfect as their life is, as much as they both have more family than either of them ever imagined, there is something missing. 

It’s another six months before they are going on a walk through the small jungle, hands entangled in each others, listening to the birds chirping in the trees, the waves roll on the beach, when they stop at their favourite spot on the island- their spot. It’s a small lookout, at the far end of the island, it looks out onto the ocean. The world seems so big, but it’s calming in a way. 

Raquel is nervous, there’s no going back now. 

“We need to talk” 

That’s never good. 

“Raquel” 

She realises then how bad that seemed. 

“It’s good news” 

He laughs and breaths, not realising quite how nervous he had suddenly become. 

She takes his hand and places it on her tummy, he looks up with hope in his eyes, and god the way they glisten. 

“You’re pregnant” it’s hopeful, so hopeful. 

She nods and they embrace and hug each other. Hold each other. 

In that moment their life, their family seems complete. 

They go home, can’t wait until they tell Paula and Marvi. They already know and they swear that those two are psychic. 

///

Happiness doesn’t last. 

It’s two days before Marivi falls ill. Two days before her breathing shallows. Two days before her skin becomes twinged with yellow. 

It’s impossibly hard to see someone so full of life, so full of joy, fade before your eyes. You wish that you had their strength. Wish that you could change places. Wish that life wasn’t so unfair. Wish that death wasn’t inevitable.

One thing that never fades is her smile. 

Her smile lasts until she closes her eyes, takes their hands and holds them tight she whispers a life with a love is a life that’s been lived. It’s time for god to take me back. 

They smile and will themselves not to cry. She was happy, it was quick. She wasn’t in pain. It’s not a comfort. Nothing is when you lose the one you loved. 

The funeral is a couple of days later. It’s a short service- no one can really find the words to say just how special she was. She’d become like a mother/grandmother to them all. Always smiling. Always hopeful. A piece of their family was missing. 

It’s hard to imagine life without her, but they know that her smile will live on inside their hearts. 

///

It all becomes real when they have their first scan. They’re going to have a baby. It’s bittersweet after the last week, but it’s a reminder that life and love works in mysterious ways and that love is always there. 

///

Sergio loves it when he feels the baby kick, he’s not sure why, but it always brings a smile to his face. Raquel enjoys it too- until the baba starts pressing on her bladder.

///

Being heavily pregnant on a tropical island where the temperatures reach 40+ degrees is not comfortable. She’s sweating profusely. She feels huge. She can’t move. 

Sergio tries to be helpful but most of the time he just feels like he’s in the way. Everything and anything makes her grumpy. 

///

Sergio is a planner. He has always been a planner. Stick to the plan and things don’t go wrong. 

He’s planned and tracked every aspect of the pregnancy- which Raquel depending on her mood either finds endearing or the most frustrating thing in the world. 

He’s planned the nursery- it's a jungle themed and he’s made every piece of furniture himself. 

He’s planned for what to do if the baby comes early or on time or late. He’s planned for everything. 

You can’t plan for emotions, you can’t plan for the rush of excitement and fear and joy when your wife screams that her waters have broken. 

They make it to a small hospital on the next island just as the contractions began to get closer together. 

You can’t plan for how tight your partner will squeeze your hand as they push. How they curse and pant and shout. 

You can’t plan for the sheer overwhelming love and adoration the moment you first see your child. 

The shared sigh of relief and an ever widening smile as you hear it cry, and it’s only tiny smile appear. 

Raquel forgot how painful giving birth was, how stressful, but she also forgot how beautiful the moment is when you finally see them, when you hold them. 

You can’t plan for just how small they are, how perfect. 

It’s a girl, just like Marivi said it would be, and she’s beautiful. Her skin is caramel, her eyes a blue and she’s their princess. 

They’d discussed and argued about names until dawn broke but in this moment they know: 

Valentina Marivi Rosa Marquina. 

Raquel looks around the room and then up to the sky, her mum is with them. Sergio must be feeling the same because his lilting voice of Sol, solecito, caliéntame un poquito,

por hoy, por mañana, por toda la semana, drifts through the room as they sleep slowly overcomes them. 

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading. 
> 
> Spanish translation   
sol, solecito, caliéntame un poquito,  
(Sun, little sun, warm me up a little bit)  
por hoy por mañana, por toda la semana,  
(today, tomorrow, and all the week)


End file.
